


Ring

by Qwerty_2poynt0



Series: Inktober 2019 Half Marathon [1]
Category: Thrilling Intent (Web Series)
Genre: Action, Alternate Universe - Gladiators, Gen, How Do I Tag, Inktober 2019, Non-Graphic Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-02
Updated: 2019-10-02
Packaged: 2020-11-16 15:10:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20852492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Qwerty_2poynt0/pseuds/Qwerty_2poynt0
Summary: He knew everything Markus Velafi could throw at him, and he knew exactly how dead he would be if Markus took it upon himself to make that a reality.Unfortubately for Markus, Aesling always said Gregor had the self preservation of an overzealous martyr.The crew's a bunch a' gladiators and Gregor and Markus gotta fight when they meet up.





	Ring

Gregor stepped into the ring, blazing in the sun. The air filling his lungs vibrated with the roar of the crowd. He waited for the familiar buzz against his soles of his opponent's weight pounding into the ground as it approached down the tunnel.

It didn't come.

Gregor opened his eyes. The sun directly above made it hard to see down the barred tunnel. He squinted past the iron, trying to discern what the organizers planned to set on him. They usually paired him against behemoths; Aesling said it was because he was deceptively lithe and it made for a more impressive show. Now though, the figure registering in the shadows as the bars rattled upward looked nothing like what Gregor was used to. It didn't even look like a monster.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!" The announcer's voice boomed. The figure stopped just outside the sunlight. It looked taller than Gregor. Those things on its head seemed to be horns. Most of its shape was muffled by what seemed to be a cape. It was bipedal. Incredibly willowy looking. "WE HAVE A SPECIAL TREAT TODAY! YOU ALREADY KNOW OUR BOY GREGOR, SO LET'S GIVE A WARM WELCOME TO OUR VISITOR, THE DEVIL OF TANHAUSER HIMSELF, MARKUS VEEEEEEELAFIIII!!!"

Gregor stood rigid as the figure stepped into the light. The man's watery golden hair shone blindingly in the sun, and Gregor noticed a spindly impish tail flicking beneath his cape. He didn't look at Gregor as he approached, opting instead to play to the crowd. He smiled, revealing vampiric canines, and waved and blew kisses. Gregor fell into the stance he defaulted to when sparring with Aesling, pointing his glaive toward the man's flat, squishy stomach.

_They don't expect me to kill him, do they?_

Gregor had been called on for what Aesling called 'glorified public executions', but he preferred to refer to those as 'displays of justice'. Still, Thog didn't brief him at all before this fight, which he found suspicious in the moment and even more so as he prepared to start the fight proper.

At the flash of metal, Markus snapped his head around and looked Gregor dead in the eye. His gaze held a weight that can't be attributed to anything as cheap as witchcraft, though he oozed that as well. It reminded Gregor of Aesling, but he cut that train of thought off near instantly.

"Gregor?" His voice held a low timbre while somehow managing to also be a touch nasal.

"You've heard of me?" Gregor kept his face stony.

"No, I just wanted to verify your name." Markus smiled. The expression rang something close to hollow, but not completely. Markus held out his hand, practically inviting Gregor to slice it off. "Markus Velafi."

"Are we going to chat or fight?"

"Well if you really are as impatient as the crowd. I wasn't told I was or wasn't allowed to kill you, so I'll do my best to be gentle... but the audience does need a good show."

Markus's hand began to glow with a strange purple energy. Gregor jumped back and rolled to the left just in time for a violet ball of fire to barrel through where he'd just stood.

"Good reflexes!" Said Markus. He snapped and turned into a thick black mist. Gregor weaved around the cloud, but he couldn't outmaneuver Markus as he grabbed Gregor by the shoulders and gave him a fierce headbutt that left a small red splotch on his forehead.

Various images flashed through Gregor's mind at light speed, and he comprehended all of them simultaneously. 

He knew everything Markus Velafi could throw at him, and he knew exactly how dead he would be if Markus took it upon himself to make that a reality.

Unfortubately for Markus, Aesling always said Gregor had the self preservation of an overzealous martyr.

"Is that supposed to scare me?" Gregor smirked, leaning into the developing pulse of their battle.

He grabbed Markus's forearm, intending to ram the shaft of his glaive into Markus's stomach and twist the two of them to get Markus off balance. But as he clamped down he didn't feel a bone. It threw him off in his lightheaded, overloaded state just enough for Markus to grab onto his wrist with heated fingers and twist it in just such a way to force Gregor to either let him go or lose the use of his hand.

"No," Markus replied as Gregor took a few steps back, "but it's very rare someone bounces back as quick as that." Markus snapped his fingers again and returned to his smoke form. Gregor somersaulted a good six feet and flew into a back handspring to avoid whatever Markus was planning. Markus materialized about three feet away from him, his face painting his shock clearly for Gregor to see and a jumble of guarded emotions less so.

"You're good." Markus said.

"Tank you." Gregor smiled before lunging forward with his glaive, aiming for Markus' knee cap. Markus responded quickly though. He swung his leg back, and before Gregor could pull out of the thrust, Markus fired an eldritch blast down on the shaft of Gregor's glaive. Burning and shattering it instantly.

"Wow, you really know what you're doing." Markus said as if he hadn't just _shattered Gregor's glaive._ "I'm impressed!"

Markus' statement almost got drowned out by the uproar of the crowd. He snapped his fingers again, and Gregor felt the ground rumble beneath his feet. He leaped into the air with all his strength just as a large skeletal hand erupted from the ground, grabbing at him. The gnarled fingertips caught on the edge of Gregor's long, oversized shirt, and he spread his legs out to stabilize himself on the knuckles as gravity reclaimed him. Markus said something that sounded like talking to himself, but Gregor paid it no mind as he ripped off the ensnared garment and used his newfound high ground to come down on Markus.

Markus, for once, looked a little taken off guard and barely managed to dodge Gregor's attack. However, when Gregor landed, he immediately sprang back up, ramming his skull into Markus' stomach and squeezing all the air out of his opponent's lungs, shoving him back a good foot. He followed it up with an uppercut to the jaw that left Markus reeling and nearly made the man lose balance entirely.

Gregor wasted no time in delivering a roundhouse to the ribs, flinging Markus to the dirt. He let out a pained groan as he impacted, and Gregor descended on him, planting his knee onto Markus' back and grabbing a fistful of his hair as he used his foot and remaining hand to pin Markus' hands to the ground.

The crowd held their breath. Markus' tail flicked in an almost annoyed way.

"IT LOOKS LIKE WE HAVE A WINNER!!" The announcer bellowed. The crowd erupted into an uproarious frenzy.

Gregor and Markus caught their breath, and Gregor looked up to the observation booth.

Sitting imperiously with Thog and Moran standing behind was Karen, his sponsor. She looked down at the scene before her, looked across the colosseum to the other main VIP booth where Markus' sponsor presumably sat. They seemed to have a conversation with their eyes that Gregor only saw half of. When she looked back to Gregor, she gave him a thumbs up. He released Markus.

"Holy shit kid, you've got more balls than most of the people I work with." Markus struggled to sit up, and Gregor held out his hand. Markus blinked at the offer a moment before smiling and grabbing on, pulling himself up.

"I am 19 years old I will have you know, I am not just some kid."

"God, I feel old. I'm gonna go get patched up... hopefully." He clapped Gregor on the shoulder. "Good game."

Markus Velafi walked off towards the same tunnel he'd entered from, and Gregor took a step after him.

"Wait!"

Markus paused and looked over his shoulder.

"I... You do realize you could have died, right? I would have killed you if I needed to."

Markus considered Gregor for a moment. There it was again, that same weight to his eyes from the start of their fight.

"I've been in too many matches not to know that."

As Gregor watched Markus go, something in him ached. The noise of the crowd turned to an indiscernible crackling fuzz in his system.

Markus stepped out of the ring, blending into the shadow.

**Author's Note:**

> Whoo! I finished with like half an hour to spare! Next one will be the day 3 prompt! Do I remember what that is? Nope! Still, I think this'll be a fun lil experiment. Wish me luck, and thanks lots for reading~!


End file.
